Maybe I'm Not All Alone

Chapter 1 is starting. Drum roll please. *Drum roll*

CHAPTER 1

March 22

A scream filled the air before it was silenced as quickly as it started.

Green jets of light shot in every direction as tall figures in dark robes appeared out of nowhere and shot the unforgivable curse at every person near them.

"How could they have Apparated?" asked a terrified Hermione, "its impossible on Hogwarts grounds."

"Maybe..." started Ron Weasley, but he didn't have time to finish, as he was forced to duck a curse being thrown at him.

"Stupefy!" bellowed Harry Potter, running to assist Dumbledore and the other teachers who had just arrived on the scene.

Hermione took out her wand but was too terrified to use it. She stared in horror as countless friends and enemies fell to the ground dead.

She screamed as a spell was shot at her, but she managed to dodge out of the way.

She looked up and saw Harry standing face to face with none other than the Dark Lord himself. All the fighting couples stopped momentarily as they looked at the scene: Harry's face contorted with anger, disgust and hate as he looked upon the murderer of his parents. Voldemort's expression, on the other hand, was a mixture of fear and the same loathing that rested on the face of his opponent. It seemed that the world held its breath as the too enemies stared into each other's eyes. Suddenly, Harry raised his wand and yelled:

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" everyone who heard these words flinched as the hate dripping from each word washed over their faces while the jet of green light rushed toward Voldemort.

He was dead before he hit the ground.

It was as if the entire world turned into a photograph. No one moved, or seemed to be breathing. All of a sudden someone screamed. It was a loud earsplitting scream, echoing across the grounds, which were now strewn with dead and Stunned bodies.

"MASTER!!!"

The robe-clad figure of Bellatrix Lestrange ran toward the place where Voldemort had fallen. She raised her wand arm and yelled:

"YOU KILLED HIM!!! I'LL KILL YOU NOW, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!!!! AVADA KEDAVRA!"

Harry's sweaty face put on a look of shock as the green light rushed towards him.

"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!" yelled Ron as he pushed Harry out of the way, thus getting hit.

Yet again, someone screamed. This time it was Hermione, looking at Ron's dead body with a look of utmost horror upon her face. Bellatrix looked annoyed at her victim, as she once again aimed the curse at Harry. He was too full of grief, exhaustion and guilt, that he didn't even try to move out of the way. He too fell to the ground motionless.

Hermione screamed again. All heads turned to Bellatrix, some showing fear, horror and disbelief. Her face became twisted with a look of pain as she fell to the ground, a knife sticking out of her back. Lupin stared down at her with a look of extreme loathing and hate etched in every line of his face. He had killed her.

It was as if somebody switched the play button on, as suddenly the air was filled with the moans, cries and screams of the survivors. The teachers rushed around trying to figure out who died and who was missing.

Hermione rushed to her to motionless friends, shaking them, talking to them, and trying to wake them up. When she saw that they would not move she slowly got up. She looked at the spectators as though pleading silently for them to tell her it was a dream. It must be a joke. A horrible joke.

Yet after what seemed like an eternity, realization of what happened sunk into her. She turned and ran. She didn't know where she was going, nor did she care. She just had to escape. She ran towards the lake and forest.

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Professor Dumbledore watched her go out of the corner of his eyes. He sighed and beckoned to the closest student. This student happened to be Draco Malfoy, who was staring at the body of his dead father with a strange look on his face.

"Mr. Malfoy, can you go get miss Granger and make sure that she doesn't hurt herself?"

"Yes Professor," he drawled, looking up. It was now that Dumbledore could make out the look. It was indifference.

He headed towards the lake, talking his time walking as he passed countless bodies. Some where his friends, others loathed enemies, but all the same a strong unfamiliar feeling started choking him, and it took him a while to realize that it was pity. Pity for the young first years that would never reach adulthood, for his fellow seventh years that would never be able to graduate.

Weasley, Mcmillan, Prewatt, Weasley, Zabini. He passed all the familiar faces and the weeping friends above them slowly, looking at all the destruction. It was like scratching a mosquito bite, relieving and painful at the same time.

By the time he reached the lake, it was getting dark, and the battle scene was dotted with the lights of a hundred lit wands. He looked around halfheartedly for Hermione, wishing the headmaster hadn't picked him.

"Granger!" he called.

He saw a dark figure standing on one of the rocks overlooking one of the deeper parts of the lake. He stared at her for a minute, before realization hit him and he started running.

"GRANGER!!!!"

The figure turned, the setting sun softly illuminating her face, which looked confused. Realization of who had called her made her glare. She turned again, the wind softly blowing her thick, wavy hair, and continued on her walk off the rock. She was about to jump; when she felt two strong hands wrap around her waist and pull her back. Draco and Hermione fell down and ended up in a pile on the cool grass beside the lake.

They stayed like that for a moment, Draco breathing in the sweet lavender smell of her hair, until she jumped up.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?!?" she screamed hysterically.

" It seems like I just saved your life," he answered coolly, masking his surprise that she would kill herself.

"I DON'T WANT TO BE SAVED, LEAST OF ALL BY YOU!" she screamed, "WHY SHOULD YOU CARE IF I DIE? IT WOULD MAKE YOU HAPPY, WOULDN'T IT? SEEING MUDBLOOD GRANGER DIE."

"No it wouldn't! I've seen enough death, thank you," he replied, yelling too, "Why the bloody hell do you want to kill yourself anyway?"

"Why? Why?" she choked hysterically, "because they're dead!" she fell to her knees as all the restrained tears came out in long streams down her face. "They're dead, they're dead," she screamed, pounding her fists against the ground. "They're gone and they wont come back!" she placed her head in her hands and started crying like a baby, not caring if Draco was there or not. She felt him put his hands on her shoulders and she looked up into his blue grey eyes. There was a strange look in them. One she had never seen on him. It was pity. When he spoke, however, his voice was deprived of any emotion.

"Granger. Get a hold of yourself. You not the only person who suffered a loss today."

"Wh-what?"

"I said, you not the only one who suffered a loss today."

"I KNOW I'M NOT!"

"Jesus, calm down."

"Yes, well, Malfoy. Did you lose anyone today? You don't know what it feels like."

"You want to bet?"

She stopped crying and looked into his eyes again. There was something else in them, along with the pity. It was sadness.

"Who did you lose?" she asked quietly.

"My parents," he answered simply.

"Your parents?!?" she exclaimed, "How?"

"My dear old dad tried to kill me," he replied, the bitterness evident in his voice as he let go of her and stood up, "So my mum came to save me. He killed her, and I killed him."

"Why did he try to kill you?"

"Because I didn't want to be a Death Eater."

"WHAT?"

"Don't think it was any act of courage, to see the good guys win and be able to fight alongside Potty. Because it wasn't." the bitterness became more pronounced than ever as he continued, "I was a coward. I was afraid."

"Of what?" she asked, standing also. The interview had fascinated her, making her almost forget her loss.

"Of Voldemort, of getting in to deep, of dying."

"So your father tried to kill you?"

"Yes. My mum wasn't too thrilled about my decision either, but she cared about me. My father realized she was only getting in his way, so he killed her. I then killed him."

"Oh my god," she whispered, kneeling down again. Fresh tears fell down her face as she thought about everything. All the destruction and death.

"How did they come?" she asked, more to herself, than to Draco.

"They found a way to alter the anti-Apparition spells on the grounds. He had been working on it for years."

She looked up at him. Behind him, the moon was rising, outlining his head in a pale crystal light. His face was in shadow, but she could make out this eyes. Grey like a storm cloud, yet blue as the deepest ocean. They stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like forever. Draco noticed how her hair was illuminated by the moonlight, her rosy lips slightly parted as she breathed. Even when her eyes were puffy she was beautiful. She was like a rose: a beauty hidden in the thorns. He had had a crush on her since third year. She was unlike any girl he had ever met. She had enough pride to rival his, and he couldn't help but be attracted to her. These feelings scared him, but try as he might, he could not chase them away. So his hurling of insults nearly doubled, for fear that anyone would find out. Hermione suddenly shivered and looked down.

"Professor Dumbledore said that I had to get you. We have to go back up to the castle."

She stood up, but her knees were shaking so badly that she almost fell. Draco held out his arm and she fell on it. They walked back in silence, until they reached the battle scene. Reporters and ministry officials were running back and forth, talking amongst themselves. When they saw Hermione approach, they flocked around her asking questions.

"Is it true that you were Harry Potter's best friend?"

"How do you feel about his death?"

"What...?" but they were cut off when Draco suddenly yelled, "SOD OFF YOU BASTARDS!! LET HER BREATHE!"

This however, just encouraged them.

"Is it true that you killed your father, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Why did you not join with You-know-who?"

"Really, that is enough!" all heads turned to Dumbledore, who had just appeared on the scene, "These students have been through a terrible ordeal tonight, you should let them be." The reporters slowly cleared off. Dumbledore turned to Draco and Hermione. The twinkle in his eyes seemed to have gone out.

"You two need sleep. Go to your rooms and sleep."

They both nodded and head to their common room. They had been chosen as Head Girl and Boy for seventh year, so that meant that they had their own common room, which branched out into their own bedrooms and bathrooms.

She just went into her room without talking. She collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep immediately.

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When she awoke, she found fresh tears on her face and pillow. She sat up and thought. She wondered why Malfoy had been so nice to her. Alright, he hadn't been exactly "fraternal' but still, he had saved her from death and the journalists. It didn't make sense. Much like the feeling that rose in her last night, when they looked in each other's eyes. She shook her head, before getting dressed and heading down for breakfast. When she got to the Great Hall, she noticed that there was only one table. All the houses where sitting side by side in silence. Gryffindor next to Slytherin, Hufflepuff next to Ravenclaw. She just stood there, in awe, watching the students from enemy houses sit next to each other, and act almost friendly toward each other. She noticed that most of the seventh year Slytherins were not there (A/N. for the more ignorant among you: the seventh yr Slytherins weren't there, because they became Death Eaters). She walked towards the table, looking for a place to sit. She sat next to Luna Lovegood, who looked spaced out and dreamy as usual.

Somebody cleared their throat, and all heads turned towards the Head Table, where Dumbledore had stood up.

" I have a few announcements in light of the attack yesterday. Voldemort and his team of Death Eaters had found a way to get past the numerous spells and enchantments guarding Hogwarts, a feat that took a good year's time. All of you fought bravely, and I cannot possibly express how proud I am of all of you. Classes will continue as usual," he said, looking around the room, "until the end of the year. It has been the request of the parents and of the Ministry of Magic, that the fifth and seventh years should take their O.W.L.S and N.E.W.T.S as planned. Thank you."

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The day passed as a blur for Hermione, so much that she couldn't even remember what classes she had attended. The castle seemed so much lonelier without Harry and Ron's company. It reminded of her of the time in third year when they had been so mad at her, that they refused to speak with her. Although then they had been alive. She suppressed the tears that were trying to come out. Just don't think about it. She repeated that over and over again in her head. She was concentrating so hard, that she walked right into Draco Malfoy.